Former West Indies fast bowler, Michael Holding has pointed out Team India’s need to find someone like MS Dhoni to finish games down the order, especially to pull off big chases in the ODI format. India was under pressure while chasing a humongous total of 375 runs in the first ODI in Sydney, on Friday, and even though the flashy knock of Hardik Pandya’s 76-ball 90 helped India accelerate their chase in the middle overs, he failed to see India successfully chase down the gigantic totally.
Hence, Holding has rightly pointed out that Team India requires a chase specialist in ODIs for situations like in the 1st ODI against Australia. While India has a fantastic bunch of players for limited-over cricket, there’s only one ‘master of chases’ but India now has to move on from MS Dhoni and find themselves a batsman who could play a similar role in ODIs.
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Talking about the same on his Youtube channel, Holding said, “374 is a lot of runs. They have some good players but one thing I know will struggle with is the loss of MS Dhoni. As we know, MS Dhoni came into this batting order mid-way and took control of the chasing. They have never been afraid to win the toss and chase because they know what Dhoni is capable of. They know the strength of their batting line-up.”
However, Holding also acknowledged that this Indian batting side is a strong one, and patches of good cricket were seen in their 66-run defeat on Friday. However, Holder once again stressed Team India’s dire need to have someone with a similar character as Dhoni’s in big chases.
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Describing the same, Holding said, “This batting line-up is still talented. We saw some from fantastic strokeplay. We saw Hardik Pandya, he batted beautifully and got a lot of runs at a fantastic rate. But India still needs a player like Dhoni. Not necessarily the skills of Dhoni but the strength of character of Dhoni. You hardly see Dhoni panicking at any stage of India’s chase. He usually paces the chase so well because he knows his ability.”
Holding further added, “Whoever is batting with him, he was talking to him and nurturing him during the chase. Without Dhoni, I think they will have to try to find someone who can do a similar job. Fantastic batting line-up, as I said, but MS Dhoni was a special man when they were chasing.”
India and Australia have their second ODI scheduled for Sunday, November 29 to be played at the same venue as the 1st ODI- Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
